He said hatchery steelhead, they feed in the ocean, perhaps your confused with the difference between trout and steelhead.

And about your comment about preserving a fish that you cant eat or never will be able to eat... its about making sure that steelhead survives to spawn, keeping the genetics in the river, and ensuring the future of the run. So maybe one day your kids, or their kids will get to gorge themselves on steelhead, if there are enough of them.

"Why preserve a fish that you are never going to eat? Just to catch the damn thing???
Do you get mad at the cavemen for not saving the Pterodactyl's or Brontosaur's for us to catch and eat today? Darn I sure do miss T-Rex meat!"
-Koolminx

So a species has no value to us unless it is a food commodity?
By the way Pterodactyls and dinosaurs where not around in the time of cavemen...
The comment about dinosaurs and cavemen from anyone else I would take as "Tongue in Cheek", but from you I just don't know.
Get educated.

Holy hell koolminx you need to step back a sec and realize what a noob you are to your surroundings that we'd be happy to welcome back to if you would chill out for a second. I mean, c'mon, think for a second: so you wanna eat a steelhead... you're going to get your shit in your rig and drive out to one of the few rivers that allows you to keep a wild steelhead, you're gonna fish for it, and kill it and eat it... all because you think there is a major taste difference between a hatchery and wild steelhead? Moss? F*ck man I think you are thinking of farm fish that you mentioned earlier in your post. Except for being genetically inferior, and bred in a hatchery, these *hatchery* fish have been out at sea for about the same period of time eating the same things as the wild fish and - ohhh - they are what they eat! Everyone knows that, f'in fish that eat garbage taste like garbage - guess what, hatchery coho, steelhead, chinook, etc, that spend their time at sea, they taste great! So get off your little high horse about all this crap and give it a little longer to digest.

i think this thread has gotten a bit off track,, reacting to reactions of reactions......

i think the only one who should be flamed is the guide who took this english guy fishing. apparently he is good enough to get a newbie to get a fly in the zone to not only nail a fish but land lifetime (BIG) fish too, very impressive. i think the english angler should be given a pass for "not knowing" but a kick in the ass would still due IMHO to teach the lesson the guide failed to give.

The guide, should be tarred and feathered and black listed and relegated to working at cabelas for the rest of his life.
it was his job to teach the english guy how to do the right thing. I bet we could have some fun at the Hoh Party if we knew who he was....

sounds like some on here might even know those involved. its a very small world.
i would love to see a pic of the fish. i've heard a lot of different numbers on here
with regards to the fish's lengh. based on calculations, how long would a 32# fish be?
is that close or less than the 45inch kispiox buck we've all seen?

Why preserve a fish that you are never going to eat? Just to catch the damn thing???

Click to expand...

Kool - I think there is a major disconnect here. Maybe similar to the one Manimal seems to have.. Catch and release is not about loving each fish or being more righteous than the next guy. It is all about making sure there are fish left to catch. It is caring for the species, or the run of fish, not doing what is best for each fish.

You need to decide which you care about more: eating fish or fishing for them? If everyone wanted to do both, like you, sport fishing as we know it would be ancient history. This was figured out a long time ago for wild trout (again, go nuts at your local put and take lake), and even the Bass fishing world embraces CnR as gospel.

If you just love eating wild fish, and don't care that much about whether or not you can fish for them - then save yourself some $$ and buy it at the store.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. Actually, you probably can get away with it if you choose to -because other people are picking up your slack.. But on this website you will find that we are (almost all) trying to do our part to keep the fish around, because we like the act of fishing and everything that goes with it more than we like eating wild fish.

Go fishing for awhile, and see the state of our wild fish for yourself. Then let us know what you think.

so this has me thinking, what could we do to avoid this situation from happening again? here is an idea for the WSC, CCA types out there.

three ideas:

(1)
Why don't you put up about 4-6 bill boards? there's only one road in and out and two ways to go. there's only a few gas stations, a few rivers can't be that expensive. i bet the hoh convervancy guys would put a few up.

at least the english guy would have read one or two of them before meeting the idiot guide in forks.........

you could also put a "kills wild fish" mug shot board of shame too for every guide that posts a pic of a wild fish from this season on their site......

(2) Create a few infomercial type spots. run cable ads at the forks motels........ (they're so cheap, realtors can do them)

in fact i bet you could have a contest for the best ammature 2 minute clips...
about the plight of steelhead and how he's not going to fish with his grandkids like
his gramps did......... put some cute kids asking,,,,, dad, whats a steelhead? at the class field trip to the museum

(3)
here is another idea.

create some kind of "logo" / brand for C&R guides and every guide who joins (for free) gets a free website, cooperative marketing, free gear, referrals and other things of value......... then run ads in steelheader, field and stream and other main market fishing mags plus fly mags,etc...

in real estate, if you have a certain "desgination' such as AB, associate broker or ABR, accredited buyers reprsentative,
you can put that designation "logo" on your business card and sometimes those associations will run full page ads for the members in seattle times.

I ONLY fish when I want to EAT fish, I Only Hunt when I want to EAT wild game!

BOTH are passions to me, Both are enjoyable to the point that I don't even have to CATCH or KILL in order to enjoy that event in my life. But I certainly do enjoy fishing even when I don't catch anything!

From all the replies and posts I have read, a steelhead is a schitt fish and should only be fished for sport and recreation and not eaten, neither the naturals nor the stocked... I mean y'all are makin' it seem like it's only a fool that would eat one... Are they that nasty?

What the phuc dudes?

I knew I was opening a can of worms by telling you that I EAT MY FISH, and from reading this thread, I can take it that steelhead are like saltwater worm ridden flounder as far as taste is concerned, and that I need not partake in a hunt of them for taking sake, but only the skill necessary to catch them and let them go {that's sort of like going hogging with your buddies and NOT doing a fat chick, it jus' don't make sense.........}

You fellers really need to relax a bit. As far as you've read I type like some reatarded hill billy with the all the slang and strategically missing letters, but that's just me having fun .
I'm really smart dudes..... For reals!

Don't be angry with me. I haven't fished these fresh waters since I was 14, I caught what I thought was a kickass salmon on the Dewatto River back in 82 and when Mr. Game Warden came by and seen it I got a $115 dollar fine for catching a fish that was too big . Soon after, I left with my parents to the deserts and the ephemeral lands of perpetuity.
I'm not planning on going river fishing here WITHOUT one of you going along with me. Right now I couldn't tell a Sand Dollar from Stewie Griffin, that's one of the reasons I poked my head into this forum.

As far as being a newbie here, I think that is moot. I treat all New Comers on my normal Forum as if they've been there forever, and never refer to their new status in a derogatory way. That's just rude. I treat the newbies as well as I do the Plank Owners like myself. It's just bad business to do otherwise.

You guy's have certainly held back on me thus far with the exception of three dudes, which I don't mind at all

I suppose that my only fault is that I like to eat fish. Otherwise I follow all the rules that the law lay's down before me. I always tread lightly in the wilderness, and as a matter of pride NOBODY in the entire universe can track me when I am out in the environment

But my point is, relax on fish eaters, there aren't as many of us out here as you may think. Also, according to the majority here that fish is gonna make that Brit puke as soon as he takes a bite... Maybe he'll not do that to another steelie again.